10 Insane Video Game Secrets You Had To Cheat To Unlock

There are few video game genres where unlockable characters are more of an important staple than in fighting games. Whether it’s overcoming opponents set to the hardest difficulty or completing certain challenges, games of this type often have creative ways to hide tantalising special characters.

However, developers rarely make fighters that aren’t meant to be seen and so whilst these obstacles may be tough they come with the greatest rewards. One particular Street Fighter cast member however, couldn’t be unlocked no matter how great you were at the game.

One of many playground rumours during the mid-90s, Akuma’s first appearance in Super Street Fighter II Turbo was the subject of much hearsay. In fact, he only exists at all as a nod to an April Fools joke regarding a hidden character in the original Street Fighter II. Capcom decided to have some fun with this by putting a character behind a strange series of button inputs.

In order to get their hands on the demonic martial artist, players require a certain amount of timing when moving around the character select screen, hovering over particular fighters and then mashing down all three punch buttons at once.

There's no alternative way to unlock Akuma, so you’d better get good at this if you want to play as him each time you boot the game up.